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Lesson of Evil
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Third Window Films Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (18th September 2014). |
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The Film
 ***This is a technical review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** Hideaki ITO stars as the teacher from Hell, in Takashi MIIKE's outrageous, blood-splattered, high school horror. Cool and charismatic English teacher Seiji Hasumi (ITO) is popular with students and teachers alike. He inspires trust and respect from his class, greeting many with an affectionate, if irritating, ruffle of the hair. But his actions soon take a turn, revealing something dark behind that charming smile. Students become suspicious when friends slowly start to disappear, but little do they know that absolute jaw-dropping carnage is just around the corner. Adapted from Yusuke KISHI’s horror novel, Aku no Kyōten, a commentary on tough high school life and dark student–teacher relationships, with plenty of black humour, absurd violence, and a splash of Cronenbergian fantasy added for good measure.
Video
Independent British distributor Third Window Films have release Takashi Miike's violent dark-humoured thriller "Lesson of Evil" on to Blu-ray using the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The transfer is 1080p and uses an AVC MPEG-4 encode. It's practically reference quality. Let us get the only real flaw out of the way first. That is the very minor and occasional aliasing on some of the background items. It isn't overly noticeable, so isn't worth more than a brief mention. Right... on to the good stuff. Details are pretty much flawless throughout this transfer, with the minor fluff coming away from school uniform jackets just one example of how good detail is here. Facial close-ups are exemplary, with every scar and blemish easily noticeable. Mid to long range shots also show good clarity, and the shadows in the many darkened locations exhibit no loss of detail, except for some barely noticeable crush in a couple of scenes. Colours are solid throughout, with blacks inky and deep, and contrasting lighter colours illustrating vivid pop. Depth is consistent and the transfer never feels flat. There is no obvious damage in this digital presentation that was shot using an Arri Alexa ArriRaw camera. Possibly Third Window's best transfer yet. The film is uncut and runs 129:01.
Audio
Third Window have provided us with a single Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio track which has some occasional lines of English dialogue at several points. For the first two thirds of the feature, the track was strong, but it is the final act that really shows off the capabilities of the sound design here. From the first time the shotgun is fired, your senses are shattered as calamity and fear kicks in amongst students, and you hear them scrambling all around you. Gun shots thunder through the LFE whilst the cheerful music choices effortlessly add a calming influence to the madness. Dialogue is clear at all times, surrounds are utilised to good effect, and directionality and channel separation is good. No problems here. Optional English subtitles are included, but not for the infrequent English dialogue.
Extras
The main extra here, is an absolutely mammoth "Making Of" documentary, clocking in at a feature-length 120:09. The documentary follows the cast and crew during filming as we see behind-the-scenes footage of Miike's direction, interspersed with plenty of interviews. One of the more interesting elements for me, was seeing before and after shots and watching the crew pull together shots that may seem simple, but require more effort (and frustration) than you could ever think. It's more a visual documentary than an in-depth look at film making, but the subtitles explain what is going on and act as a basic narration, which helps the documentary massively. A very nice addition. We also get a theatrical trailer (1:50).
Overall
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